Why 2025's Record Heat Demands Better Moorland Management

Rob Beeson
Jan 8
5 min read

The summer of 2025 will be remembered for the smoke that stained our skies and the drone of helicopters battling blazes across the nation's uplands. Record-breaking heat and prolonged droughts created tinder-dry conditions, pushing our landscapes to a breaking point.

As hotter, drier summers become the norm, the threat of catastrophic wildfires to our iconic moorlands, rural communities, and vital infrastructure grows exponentially.

In the face of this escalating danger, we must ask a critical question: Are we using every tool available to protect ourselves?

The New Reality: A Tinderbox Britain

To confront the wildfire crisis, we must first conduct an honest assessment of the threat. The UK faces an unprecedented danger, driven by the dual forces of a warming climate and the dangerous accumulation of overgrown vegetation, or "fuel load", on our moors. This combination has turned vast, beautiful landscapes into a powder keg, waiting for a spark.

2025: A Year of Unprecedented Fire

The scale of this year's crisis is a clear signal that our current approach is failing. These are not abstract threats; they are real emergencies with devastating human consequences. During recent blazes, campsites have been evacuated, farmers have scrambled to move livestock to avoid incineration, and emergency vehicles have collided on smoke-filled roads. The data from the front lines paints a grim picture:

A Record-Breaking Year: 2025 surpassed all previous UK records for wildfire incidents, placing immense strain on emergency services.
Scotland's Largest Wildfire: The devastating Carrbridge and Dava wildfires constituted Scotland’s largest-ever wildfire event, scorching a combined 11,827 hectares (approximately 29,225 acres) of moorland and woodland.
A Critical Warning: The massive build-up of vegetation on our hills has been described in stark terms: without proper management, it is as if a "petrol station had been built on every hill."
Strained Emergency Services: The sheer scale of these events has pushed fire services to their breaking point. The Fire Brigades Union has confirmed that services are being "pushed to their limits," diverting essential resources and personnel to tackle landscape-scale incidents.

The Real Problem: Unchecked Fuel

At the heart of this crisis is the problem of "fuel load." In simple terms, this is the mass of dry, overgrown vegetation - primarily old, dense heather - that accumulates on moorlands over time. For decades, traditional land management techniques that kept this fuel in check have been increasingly restricted.

This has allowed vegetation to grow unchecked, turning huge swathes of our moorlands into what the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) itself prophetically warned in 2023 was a "tinderbox." When this dense fuel ignites during a hot, dry summer, it creates an inferno that is almost impossible to control.

The cost of this inaction is staggering: serious upland wildfires cost between £5,000 and £10,000 per hectare, a figure that can exceed £20,000 per hectare for the deep-burning peat fires that destroy carbon-rich soils.

This dangerous accumulation of wildfire fuel is not an uncontrollable act of nature; it is a direct consequence of land management policy, and it demands a proactive solution.

The Proven Solution: Managing the Fuel Before It Burns

While we cannot control the weather, we can and must control the fuel. The key to preventing catastrophic wildfires is not just a reactive emergency response but proactive land management.

Controlled burning, known as muirburn in Scotland, is a traditional, scientifically-backed, and essential tool used by skilled land managers to safely reduce dangerous fuel loads and protect our moorlands from the devastating impact of summer wildfires.

What is Controlled Burning?

Controlled burning is a preventative technique carried out by experienced land managers, farmers, and gamekeepers, typically during the winter or early spring. It is fundamentally different from a destructive wildfire.

A controlled burn is a "cool burn" conducted when the ground is wet. This moisture is critical, as it protects the vital peat soil underneath - a massive carbon store - as well as the root systems of the plants from the flames.
The process is designed to move quickly across the surface, singeing the overgrown, dry top layer of vegetation - the fuel - without damaging the healthy ecosystem beneath it.
This is the polar opposite of a summer wildfire. A "hot burn" ignites dry, vulnerable peat and burns with extreme heat deep into the ground, destroying the carbon store "forever." While destructive summer wildfires travel underground and are incredibly difficult to extinguish, a controlled "cool burn" is conducted when the peat is wet and protected, making it a fundamentally different and safer process.

A Global Best Practice

The effectiveness of controlled burning as a primary wildfire prevention strategy is not a matter of debate; it is an established best practice recognised by experts and governments around the world.

Reduces Wildfire Severity: By removing the excess fuel, controlled burns ensure that if a wildfire does start, it is far less intense and easier for fire services to contain. During the Carrbridge and Dava fires, land managers on the ground credited prior fuel load management for making the containment effort easier.
Creates Vital Firebreaks: Patches of land managed with controlled burning have very low vegetation. These areas act as natural firebreaks - barriers that can slow or even stop an approaching wildfire in its tracks, giving firefighters a crucial advantage.
Backed by International Consensus: The use of controlled burning to reduce wildfire risk is not a niche or controversial idea. It is actively encouraged by major international bodies, including the G7, the White House, and the European Commission, all of whom see it as an essential tool for adapting to climate change.

This evidence-based approach stands in contrast to the un-peer-reviewed positions taken by bodies like the IUCN UK Peatland Programme, which have been challenged by researchers like Dr. Andreas Heinemeyer for containing "unverified assertions and misleading arguments."

This proven technique is our best defence against the new reality of wildfire in Britain.

A Time for Action: Embracing Traditional Wisdom for a Modern Threat

The evidence is clear: managing fuel loads before they can feed a catastrophic wildfire is the most effective defence we have.

The people on the front line of these fires - the farmers, gamekeepers, and land managers - are the very same people who possess the skills and generational knowledge to prevent them.

Their expertise in land management is a vital national resource that must be supported. Protecting our globally important and unique moorland habitats is paramount, but so is protecting the rural communities, homes, businesses, and infrastructure that stand in the path of these infernos.